Topical Unity of the Verses of the Qur'an in the Balance of Criticism

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Abstract

Despite various and numerous topics existing in many of the verses of the Qur'an, which in the first glance seem to be evident, some contemporary Qur'an researchers believe that a single purpose and topic lies behind this apparent multiplicity and variety, and that there is an inevitable and unbreakable bond among all the verses of a ra. They regard this feature – topical unity – to be one of the superior miracles of the Qur'an and expedient to the Divine rhetoric and wisdom.
Although many attempts have been made by the advocates of this theory for proving the "topical unity of the verses of the Qur'an", there are weaknesses and deficiencies in the reasons they have presented which hinders the acceptance of this theory. In this article, the reasons and evidences of this theory are critically reviewed.
Besides the deficiencies existing in the reasons provided by this theory, there are other shortcomings that attest to the refutation of the theory of topical unity, such as lack of reassuring standards; risk of interpretation by personal opinion; difficulty of reaching the main topic in each sūra of the Qur'an; absence of referential indication in the Qur'an and the words of the infallible ones (ma‘ṣūmīn); and the many differences in the topics that the advocates of this theory have introduced for every sūra.